By Land or by Sea
by Theducksrcoming
Summary: A woman on a cliff, a prince who is lost. A troubled kingdom and adventures galore. Where is Ella's child? A man who threatens the kingdom has come, who will step forward to save it? Only Ella's child can save the kingdom.Updated!
1. Chapter 1

A girl stood alone on a cliff overlooking the vast ocean. She was dark but fair, her eyes glowed an interesting shade of emerald green in the light of the dying sun.

She was dressed like a man in a sailor's loose white shirt and tight green pants and long, shiny black boots. She was watching something come into the protected bay, something that she had expected and yet dreaded.

She knew that she should leave now but she was compelled to see, to see if they had been lying. To see if he was really back.

Her fiancé, a man without a heart or soul. A man who would sell his mother if it got him her kingdom. She could not let this happen, but people were either too afraid or unaware of the danger he presented. Many suspected, her included. She had never been able to prove anything, and she knew that she must work quickly if she was to save everything. She only hoped she wasn't too late. She could not let the viper tear her kingdom apart for his own amusement, and she couldn't tell her parents, for they would say she was over reacting. And he would kill them so that he could take over her kingdom all the sooner

"All she does is sit there on that cliff; I don't know how she got there. I don't know who she is, but she is interesting. I wish I knew how to get up there; I wish I could talk to her. She seems so wild, so free, I want to ask her what that's like", said a young man as he looked up at the high cliffs from the deck of his destroyer, "I f only I didn't have to visit the King and Queen, then I could meet her."

"Your majesty, why do you even want to, she is not a noble, and she is quite strange. There are plenty of other fish in that sea", said a tanned sailor to the young man, "She looks like a female sailor, and they are a wild bunch, not to be trusted. Crazy they are." "I'm not interested in that way, I just want to know who she is", he said his voice filled to the brim with exasperation, "Unlike you, I'm not interested in getting in her pants, I just want to know why she's standing up there like that."

He nodded, but still gazed up at the strange woman, with her fair skin and her dark hair as she watched another ship come in to port.

She didn't see his ship coming this day, but she would come back soon to see if his ship had come in, she turned abruptly and walked away thinking.


	2. Chapter 2

The girl pulled at her wrinkled sleeves nervously, glancing up at the ever darkening sky. She cursed; she was supposed to be home by the time the sun had set. She turned away from the jagged cliff and sped off frantically in the other direction, her feet barely touching the rocky ground. She reached the side of a tall chestnut gelding and threw herself into its saddle as she grabbed the reins. She galloped off, but she knew she would never make it in time.

"Prince Joren, we're here", said a sailor to the young man on the boat, "Prince Joren?" "I heard you, I was just thinking about something", said the prince distractedly, his gaze directed far away.

"Sir, we need to leave, the King and Queen are expecting us", said a man dressed primly in a suit and cravat. "Just lead the way, Falion, you seem to know your way around", said the prince. Falion just bowed and gestured lightly towards the dock and the carriage that waited for them there. As they walked down he watched the sailors who had become his friends load his luggage onto the carriage.

"It is rather indecent how tan you've become on this trip, sir. What would your dear mother think? And those cast offs you insist on wearing, it's totally outrageous", said Falion, frowning at his young master.

"We're not to the palace yet, so I don't have to look like a prince yet. Besides, if anyone asks, you'll be offended enough for the both of us if they do recognize me in these clothes", said the prince, rolling his eyes at the conservative manservant.

"If it weren't for me, you'd probably wander around in the nude", said Falion. Joren laughed at that and they both climbed into the luxurious carriage. Joren gazed at the city of Frell out of his window, soaking in as much of the landscape as he could. It was a bustling metropolis, full of people and fairly buzzing with energy of its own. He anticipated many afternoons of wandering the streets in commoner's clothing, just being Joren. That was one of the benefits of being the spare heir, no one expected him to do much with his life, and he wasn't very important, so he would wander around his home country. After he had finished the schooling that was required, he had disappeared for months at a time, learning tricks and skills from the underbelly of society. He became something of a renowned thief, and had even set up a primitive spy network.

She pulled into the stables and leapt off the horse, handing him to a stable boy. "Sorry, Firefly, but I don't have time to brush you", she said, flipping the boy a silver KJ. "Thanks Tam! It's good to have you back, you've been gone too long", said the stable boy as she rushed off. "No problem Stan", she yelled over her shoulder, rushing towards her room, cursing her lateness.


	3. Chapter 3

Joren's carriage had finally reached the palace, and he looked up at it in great admiration.

"You know Falion, I was wondering what you did pack that you deemed proper, I wouldn't want to offend the royals by showing up in this", he mused, Falion almost fainted with relief.

"Yes, you must make a good impression, after all, your older brother is marrying the Princess..."said Falion, with feigned innocence.

"What? That pompous jerk, don't tell me he's going to be here", yelled the prince, startling the people walking outside, "Damn it, Falion, why do you always get me into these thing?"

"Sir I hadn't thought it important enough to mention to you", he said softly, wincing at the scandalized glances from the passing debutantes.

"It's bad enough that he's going to run our kingdom some day, but now I have to be all nice and polite to him, and his fiancé, I hope she's an ugly pig, with a beard and a tail, that would be poetic justice right there", he said angrily, following his man servant into the palace in a huff

She raced into her room and pulled off her mannish clothing hurriedly. She shifted through her closet, trying to locate the dress she was suppose to be wearing, she found it and tried to shimmy into it as quickly as possible. Half way on it got stuck and she had to call for her much loathed ladies maids. They disentangled her, washed her up, got the dress on, and did her hair and make-up with cool efficiency. She looked into the mirror and barely recognized herself. She sighed and then thanked her ladies maids with perfusion. "Your highness, you don't have time to thank us, you're going to be late for dinner, and it's in honor of a special guest tonight.

She moved as quickly as she could to get to the fancy dining hall, they were having a feast in honor of some important person coming. She flew down the stairway and got to the hall just in time.

"Presenting her Highness, the Princess Tamaril", said the announcer as she glided down the remaining stairs. She couldn't remember where she was supposed to sit, her mother motioned towards the only empty tables. She was late again, and her parent's didn't look pleased.

"Oh great, I get to sit with the guest of honor", she mumbled and moved to sit down at the empty table for two; she looked around to see that all the other tables were full. At least this mysterious guest of honor was late, so he wouldn't know that she had been late as well.

"Why do I have to wear this clown suit", asked Joren, "I feel totally ridiculous, and I itch everywhere."

"Well, it won't matter if you wore it now or not, you're late", said Falion, looking at the clock.

"Why didn't you tell me? Great lot of help you are", he said, making a running start down the hallway.

He located the Great dining room without trouble and was announced in.

"Presenting his highness, Prince Joren", rang trough out the room, he saw that the only empty seat was across from a girl in a sea green dress and cascading black hair, so he headed to it and sat down, trying not to notice the stares that followed him, he wasn't use to all this attention.

He looked up to see the girl form the cliff, the one who was wild and free, as well as mysterious and beautiful. Now she looked proper and he couldn't believe that she was the same girl from the cliffs, who had sparked his interest.



"Wh-what are you doing here", he asked in surprise, "I saw you standing on a cliff this afternoon, what are you doing here?"

"I'm eating, as you well know, and you should never judge who someone is by what they wear", she said, "Because, by the look you're giving me, you probably thought I was a female sailor."

"No just surprised to see you. I thought you were a dream up on that cliff, I walk around in commoner's clothing most of the time, so most people don't even know what the second prince really looks like, which isn't really a bad thing", he said, "You should come when I go around this city, show me around the underbelly, the real Frell as it were, knowing you they probably recognize you in very different clothing."

"That could be fun, how about tomorrow then, meet me in the stable after breakfast", she said, then they talked of the cities they had visited and the strange things they had seen.

He was almost half in love with her by the time dessert came. She was much like he was, and he could bet that she too was a thief and a spy, as well as a princess; he knew he had found his soul mate.

"Just a question, I never asked you your name, what is it", asked the prince with great curiosity.

"Princess Tamaril", she said.

"My brother's fiancé", he said, half asking, half in shock.

"Yes, I must marry your pig of a brother", she said indignantly, expecting him to become angry.

"You should marry me instead, we don't know each other, but I can tell you, I'm much better than my older brother, and I'm a prince so it'd probably be ok", he said, only half joking, "Better me than my brother to have control of this kingdom."

"You would do that for me? You would risk your brother's wrath so that you could marry me", she asked, looking at him in wonder, this could be the answer to her problems.

"If my mother wasn't dead and buried, he's sell her to get a little more money or land, you can count on that, and I can guarantee that he only wants you for the kingdom you will one day inherit, then your life will be in danger. And before that your parents' lives will be in danger. Then your whole kingdom will fall under his evil tyrannous rule", he said being quite serious, "And if it takes marrying a strange, beautiful princess to stop him, then sign me up."

"I guess we'll be getting married tomorrow then, I know just the chapel", she said grinning at the craziness of the whole idea, she wouldn't have to marry his brother, she wouldn't need to protect her kingdom, and she would have someone to depend on and travel with.

Joren's eyes grew wide, what had he just agreed to?


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for the delay :P I also rewrote the previous chapters, so they don't suck so much

"Wait, you seriously want to marry me", he whispered hurriedly, "You don't even know me."

"You can't be any worse then you brother", she said, "He is worse than the devil himself, and is also as ugly as sin. And if you have the same opinion of your brother as I do then you can't be all bad."

"You realize you'd be giving me control of your kingdom someday right", he asked, hoping she didn't change her mind.

"I would have to give it to some man someday in order to give my kingdom heirs", she said, shrugging, "And the fact that you even brought it up means that you are a fair and honorable man, even if you're a bit late sometimes. And you seem like someone I could be friends with. We'll have to pretend we're madly in love though."

"Anything to stop my brother from destroying yet another kingdom", he said with anger, thinking of the dire straits that his people would be in when he ruled.

"Now, start flirting with me", she said, grinning, and he did.

They spent the more time talking throughout the night during the ball held.

"Meet me at 6am in the stable as we promised and we can go to the chapel, dress in commoner's clothing and be discrete", she whispered to him right before she left the ballroom for the night.

* * *

It was almost 6, and he stood impatiently next to the stable door, when he saw her come out in a nice but rather faded dress. She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the city. "I'll have to show you around some other time, for now we have something important to accomplish", she said, as he looked around with interest.

"I still can't believe we're doing this, it seems almost unbelievable. Like a fairy tale or something, except without magic or true love at first sight", he said.

"How my parents met is already a fairy tale that people tell their children before bed", she said.

"Yes, I know. I grew up hearing the story. Also, you realize that we have to pretend that we've fallen madly in love, right", he asked, looking at her curiously, for he knew it would not be difficult for him.

"I'm sure we can manage", she said, looking at him as if she seen him for the first time.

"Yes, I'm sure we'll manage", he said, echoing her.


End file.
